Give and take: a study of consumer photo-sharing culture and practice

In this paper, we present initial findings from the study of a digital photo-sharing website: Flickr.com. In particular, we argue that Flickr.com appears to support--for some people--a different set of photography practices, socialization styles, and perspectives on privacy that are unlike those described in previous research on consumer and amateur photographers. Further, through our examination of digital photographers' photowork activities--organizing, finding, sharing and receiving--we suggest that privacy concerns and lack of integration with existing communication channels have the potential to prevent the `Kodak Culture' from fully adopting current photo-sharing solutions. Author Keywords Consumer photography, digital photography, media sharing, domestic and leisure computing, photowork ACM Classification Keywords H5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI): Miscellaneous.